AstraZeneca recently reported another drug disappointment after poor trial results from a diabetes drug.
The company badly needs new products to replace former big sellers such as the antipsychotic Seroquel as they come out of patent protection, and a spate of acquisitions could help achieve that aim.
Now AstraZeneca has linked up with rival Roche in an effort to improve their drug development programmes, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The two have agreed to share data on early-stage drug programmes to try and speed up the development of effective medicines. They will both give information to UK business MedChemica, which specialises in pinpointing chemical structures which could lead to safety or efficacy problems.
The report has helped lift AstraZeneca's shares 81p to 3145.5p.
